Page 23 of Awakening a Lord's Desires
“I will fetch them,” Charles said, rushing after them, and reaching out from the edge—until he fell in.
Chapter 23
“Dear God!” Caroline called out to him. She grabbed her skirts and rushed after him, reaching her hand out toward him as he struggled to right himself. “Please, let me help you.”
“Very well,” he said, reaching for her hand, but as he tried to pull himself to stand, she fell forward, and together, they splashed into the cool water.
When their heads turned towards one another, they burst into laughter. She had never been so disheveled and improper in front of anyone, let alone a young man. And seeing him just as disheveled made her laugh.
“I am so sorry, Miss Caroline,” he said, moving closer to help her to stand. “At least the water is not deep, although it is slippery at the bottom there.”
“I only wish there was not such a breeze,” Caroline said, allowing him to grasp her elbow to assist her. “The water is almost warmer than the outside.”
She was still smiling, but it fell a little as they faced one another soaking wet. His one hand was on her elbow, the other on her waist to steady her.
Water was streaming down from the wet brown curls over his face. It brightened the colour of his hazel eyes, and he was smiling as he looked at her. She could feel her hair streaming out behind her, down her back, for her pins had come loose in the fall. She knew that she looked a fright and yet, Lord Charles did not seem to mind.
They were both breathing hard as he lifted his hand to her cheek and his thumb slid under her bottom lip. As he’d agreed to help her collect her gloves, he had removed his own, and now he was touching her with his bare hand. Caroline could not think about anything else but the feel of his palm on her skin, and the way his eyes bored into hers before they descended to her mouth.
Her every sense was attuned to him, and she wished for nothing more but to feel his kiss, even if she did not exactly know how it would go. Her body had never done something like that before, yet his touch seemed to make a primitive part of her cry out for it.
“May I?” he asked, his voice thick and husky, and she quickly nodded.
“Yes.”
It was only a second more before his mouth touched hers, and when it did, Caroline could feel everything slow around her. Even though she was soaking wet on a cold day, heat spread through her veins. His mouth was soft and warm and gentle at first as he kissed her, slowly attempting to open hers. Her hands moved to his shoulders as she listened to the instructions of his body.
With only a little shyness, she opened her mouth and sighed as she felt the tip of his tongue move slowly inside. Her fingers gripped more tightly to his shoulders as she touched her tongue to his, and then she was lost. His hands held her waist and pulled her closer as he deepened the kiss.
So, this was what it felt like to be completely lost to a moment. She could hear nothing else, not the breeze, the ripple of water, or the sound of birds. She could only hear the sound of her heart in her ears as she kissed him back. But as her fingers entwined with the hair at the base of his neck, and he pressed their bodies together with a slight groan, Caroline began thinking. What did it mean that they kissed? Out in the open air?
It was unlikely, but it was possible that someone could come upon them. It was possible that Penelope herself would find out about such a thing. And even though the kiss was making her heart ache and her body warm in places she didn’t know she had, Caroline pulled away.
Her hands remained around his neck, his hands on her waist. They did not move apart but simply stared at one another for a few breathless seconds. Caroline was certain that that was not how everyone kissed. For if that was so, then why were there so many unhappy people in the world?
Finally and painfully, she took a step back, and Lord Charles spoke first. “Forgive me, Miss Caroline.” He put his hands behind his back as if they’d done something wicked and he needed to hide them.
“Please, there is no need to apologise.” She picked up her floating gloves and her drenched skirt and did her best to climb out of the lake.
Lord Charles came to assist her yet again, but she flinched at his touch, and he pulled his hand away. It only reminded her of just how lost she had become in that kiss and, without knowing what it meant, it made her feel unsteady in a world she already felt unsteady in.
“But I must.” He jumped out after her, and she listened to the squelch of their boots as they walked back towards the path. “It was ungentlemanly of me, and I did not mean to—”
“Lord Charles,” she said turning around. “You asked, remember? And I agreed. Do not think me so changeable. There is nothing to apologise for. I participated wholeheartedly in that kiss.”
She turned around again to walk away, and he followed after her. “Is this about Lord Fitzroy?”
Caroline paused, straightened, and slowly turned around. “What on earth do you mean?”
Chapter 24
Charles wondered what he’d been doing all these years before that kiss. One touch of Miss Caroline’s lips and he was a lost man. And yet he felt more alive than he had ever felt. Colours were brighter, sounds were sweeter, and the world looked to be a different place entirely. But then she’d pulled away, and they were there on the path, her walking away, and him trying to figure out just how she’d felt about the kiss.
Had she felt her heart skip into a new beat? Had she felt that everything was now changed, and there was no turning back? But he was breathless after he asked about Lord Fitzroy, watching her standing there staring at him in shock.
She was utterly breathtaking in her soaked state. Her hair was dripping down over her shoulders, her hands clutching at her skirts. They were white, and so the fabric, now that it was wet, had become slightly sheer. He tried to steer his focus away from that, to focus on the matter at hand. If she was being courted by another, then he had to know. Charles felt as if he was on the precipice of something, and it was far better to know what was at stake before he toppled over the edge.
“I am sorry for putting you in a strange position if someone else is courting you.”
